


[fic] could be a running montage of deferment

by youcallitwinter



Category: Vampire Diaries (TV), Vampire Diaries RPF
Genre: F/M, Gen, RPF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-16
Updated: 2014-05-16
Packaged: 2018-01-25 04:23:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1631306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youcallitwinter/pseuds/youcallitwinter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun.<br/>[rpf] [joseph; joseph/candice] [oneshot]</p>
            </blockquote>





	[fic] could be a running montage of deferment

**Author's Note:**

> So now that JM is engaged, I just remembered an RPF (why, god) I had written for a prompt when Candice got engaged, so.
> 
> Disclaimer: These people do not in any way, shape or form belong to me AT ALL. Also, they're real, which may not be your thing.

The headline is bolded, italicized and he glances over once and—  
  
Laughs.  
  
  
  
 **.**  
  
  
  
 _They've married us this time_. A teasing lilt. The words scratch on his nerves endings. His mouth is so full of cotton and she's golden. She's always golden.  
  
The script on the table, her hair a waterfall, covering her from his gaze.  
  
 _What?_  
  
He pushes the paper in front of her eyes, golden hair drapes across the black ink. He could dream of her if she let him.  
  
 _Apparently we're engaged now._  
  
She looks over, and then up, up at him—  
  
His heart sinks before she says a word.  
  
  
  
 **.**  
  
  
  
 _Joseph...King. I’m engaged to Joseph King. It was kind of— I mean, we were— it’s been very—_  
  
Avoiding his eyes. He doesn’t mind. He can keep looking at her and she will not know. This way.  
  
 _Oh_.  
  
She stops and for a moment he expects her to apologize. That is Candice.  
  
 ~~I didn’t ask you to fall in love with me, but sorry I broke your heart somehow.~~  
  
She doesn't say it, but maybe it still counts if he hears it anyway.  
  
  
  
 **.**  
  
  
  
The thing about being an actor is the knowing how to act part.  
  
He’s looks over too often, and everyone around gives him knowing glances, gives him space to breathe, and she, she looks away.  
  
He’s not very good at it, apparently.  
  
  
  
 **.**  
  
  
  
 _You don’t like me much._  
  
A statement, not a question.  
  
She’s startled, a glance, a glance away.  _Joseph—_  
  
 _It’s okay._  
  
  
  
 **.**  
  
  
  
 _It’s not that._  
  
Determinedly twisting her napkin in her hand. After a while, every party is the same.  
  
He smiles a lot and he accentuates his tone more than necessary when the mike is shoved into his face. Consonants harder.  
  
It’s the foreignness which appeals in the middle of Ian and Paul; he is not a fool.  
  
 _Not what?_  
  
A tilt of his glass to the ring on her finger.  
  
 _It’s not that I don’t like you. I like you—_  
  
 ~~Please. Stop there.~~  There are things he can’t think.  
  
— _It’s just the Klaus and Caroline thing. I don’t think it’s healthy. It romanticizes abuse in a way that's not necessarily obvious, and that’s— there are young girls watching the show and—_  
  
She cares too much, she always has. That is one of the reasons why he—  
  
 _I’m not Klaus._ An interruption.  
  
A pause. Loaded and a finger on the trigger.  
  
 _I think I’m Caroline._  
  
(All you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun.)  
  
  
  
 **.**  
  
  
  
  
 _I like you_.  
  
He uses the wrong L-word, she’s golden in relief.  
  
 _I like you too, Joe._  
  
A half-name. A quick smile. And distance.  
  
  
  
 **.**  
  
  
  
The glass at the bottom of the liquid sparkles like her ring in the right light.  
  
He drinks too fast. He drinks too much. His consonants get softer.  
  
  
  
 **.**  
  
  
  
If he was a good actor, he would channel it into his performance. A realistic frame-shot of unrequited.  
  
A kiss on the cheek.  _I intend to be your last._  
  
Klaus lets go.  
  
Joseph, Joseph doesn’t.  
  
  
  
 **.**  
  
  
  
He says:  
  
 _Maybe you’ll be sorry when I’m gone._  
  
Pack up, a season too late, a teasing lilt again.  
  
 _Maybe I will._  
  
A teasing lilt back. She is better an actress than he is an actor.  
  
  
  
 **.**  
  
  
  
Another mike, another party, another day at the office.  
  
 _I’m sure when the headlines hit, half the fans wished the Joseph was of the Morgan variety._  
  
A stage whisper, a cue to laughter, the bright green carpet and its trappings.  
  
He glances over once, a flash of blue and golden and—  
  
—laughs. Says something like:  
  
 _I’m pretty sure I did too._  
  
The right answer. Being nice to a co-star. Self-deprecating. The rules of the game.  
  
 _I wish her all the happiness in the world. Candice is a beautiful, stunning woman, and she deserves it._  
  
He knows the rules, even if he doesn’t know the game.  
  
  
  
 **.**  
  
  
  
She spills her drink on him, accidentally. He runs into her  ~~accidentally~~.  
  
 _God, I’m so, so sorry, Joseph._  
  
Honesty, sometimes. Only sometimes. So this is:  
  
 _I’m sorry too._  
  
She does not ask why. Maybe she’s scared to. He’s scared too.  
  
This time, she holds out a hand.  
  
 _Let me get napkins. This is all my fault._  
  
Not all of it. But the sometimes is over. Honesty doesn’t spill out anymore.  
  
He takes her offered hand.  
  
 _Come on, then, m’lady._ She laughs.  
  
The ring cuts into his finger. He holds on tighter.


End file.
